Friday 24 February 2012

How to Start Internet Radio - The Essentials and Platform

By Mehr Virk

Online audio streaming is the way to go in this day and age - it frees you from the limitations of traditional radio broadcasting. Here's why it's a good idea to start internet radio broadcasting:

1) It does not matter where you are situated in the world. You can reach people in Beijing from as far away as California.

2) The costs of broadcasting over the internet are lesser than traditional radio.

3) You can offer more than audio - text, images, as well as interactivity in the form chat rooms, for example.

4) There are a range of genres available to you, especially with music.

Essentials

The things you will need to start internet radio broadcasting include: CD player; mixer, assorted recorder/editor; ripper; microphones; dedicated computer with encoder; digital audio card; outboard audio equipment and streaming media server.

Delivering Audio

Here are the steps involved in sharing audio over the internet.

1) With the help of a sound card, the content is provided to an encoding computer which translates it to make it suitable for streaming. The encoder works by compressing the incoming info to make it fit for passing over the internet.

2) The audio is forwarded to a server that uses a high bandwidth connection.

3) The audio is then provided to the player/plug-in by the server. The player converts it into sound.

Audio is delivered online by two methods: streaming and downloading. With streaming, the encoding system makes the audio streamable; the server makes sure that it is available and the player retrieves the file(s). In a live broadcast, both the encoder and streamer are at work at the same time.

Platform

Take your time in choosing a platform to start internet radio. There are several things to consider while selecting an audio streaming platform. Here are some things you should keep in mind:

- Number of Stations: The first thing to consider is the number of stations you want to broadcast. This may be an easy thing to do if your are just looking to create a personal station where you share your music with the world. But, it may need more thinking if you are looking to create different types of stations on a tight budget.

- Storage Space: Estimate the amount of storage space you will need.

- File Size: File size is important if you are looking to upload large-sized files. You may have to spend money on getting a plan that enables uploading of large files.

- Streaming Playlist: Do you want to buy a plan that allows playlist streaming?

- Advertising: Think about the opportunity to profit through advertising.
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